mercredi 28 janvier 2004
"Lift your eyes to heaven"
I was unable to participate in this last week (besides, I wouldn't have written a good piece on the 80s since I was born in it), and I feel guilty for being late this week, but here goes!
Freedom
Whenever I hear this word, the image that comes into my mind is being released from the chains that have held us down our whole life. I think of the bondage we are in, being tied down with heavy weights that have hindered us from all that we want to be. The shackles that twist around our wrists and ankles, leaving scars on our hearts and marks on our skin. I picture myself walking slowly, consumed with the burdens and toils that sit on my back. My downcast face focuses on each piece of gravel as I pass it, and my hair is matted on my face, wet with worries and sick with grief.
Then Jesus Christ enters the picture. No longer am I the creature that once stooped low and smelled of the gut-wrenching death. No, that person is now gone, a part of the past which can never come back to claim my life again. My life belongs to another. One that lifts me up and gently, with His blood-stained fingers, wipes away my tears and touches my cheek. He removes each rock from my back, one by one, and releases the load I carry. With His pierced wrists, He unlocks the chains that have kept me from tasting the sweet-smelling air. He takes my heart and whispers songs of salvation and peace into it. I look up and see the face of compassion and holiness. Compassionate because He understands what it is like to walk on this wearied earth. Holiness because only He can restore my spirit and breathe life into me.
I feel complete. Every scar is healing and I know that His promises are coming true. I can see, my vision has been restored to me. Suddenly, all the colours have come magnificently alive and their hues tickle my senses. I can hear joy where there was once pain. Children's laughter, sacred music, and the calming wind fill my ears. This, this is the life I was created for. To partake in the goodness of Him, who has made me in His image and calls me to be like Him. My fears and empty desires are now replaced with faith and the Holy Spirit. I feel His presence and I can soak in freedom. The freedom I have longed for all my life has come, and it has restored every fibre of my being. I am a new creation. I am free.
"Freedom reigns in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every face
There is freedom"
- Jason Upton - "Freedom Reigns", Faith
